Six characters in search of a mother: Re-reading the homecoming

Abstract

This essay presents a very brief critical reflection on The Homecoming, arguably one of the most provocative and polarizing plays of Harold Pinter. Focusing predominantly on the figure and the function of the “Mother” in the play and, more specifically, how the specter of the “absent mother” holds an uncanny influence over the various characters and the events, this essay attempts to locate how the “Mother” acts as the central unifying axis in the plot. To this end, I examine how the six characters who appear onstage approach, engage and negotiate with the figure of the “Mother” at different points in the play. I also foreground how the play challenges fixed categories being imposed on its female characters and simultaneously disrupts the normative sexual roles assigned to them within a patriarchal family.